Azerbaijan on Thursday hit out at neighboring Armenia over its criticism of its lightning offensive against Armenian separatists in the Karabakh region last September, which fully reunited the enclave with Azerbaijan after over 30 years.
Karabakh is a region of Azerbaijan that came under the illegal control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan liberated parts of Karabakh and surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict.
Baku established full sovereignty in the mountainous enclave in a daylong operation in September 2023, after which the separatists laid down arms and ultimately dismantled their self-proclaimed government while some 150,000 Armenian residents of Karabakh opted to return to Armenia.
Criticizing an earlier statement by Yerevan labeling the operation an attack on the region and "ethnic cleansing," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said such comments were "unacceptable."
In a statement, he said the "local counterterrorism measures" in Karabakh were aimed at "disarming and completely forcing out the remnants of the armed forces of Armenia from the Karabakh economic region of our country, and restoring the sovereignty and constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan in those territories."
"Despite presenting itself as a peaceful country, Armenia's calling Garabagh, the ancient and eternal land of Azerbaijan, with fictional names such as 'Nagorno-Karabakh' is a clear example of disrespect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," Hajizada added.
He asserted that the measures, carried out on Sept. 19-20 last year, were "in full compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law."
"Azerbaijan's restoration of sovereignty over its lands, in addition to constituting one of the most glorious pages of our history, is a triumph of international law and justice," he said.
He accused Armenia of supporting separatist forces on Azerbaijani territory by providing arms and ammunition before the operation and "propagating the puppet regime they kept in our territories by all means."
He said Baku invited the Armenian population of Karabakh to take part in a reintegration program. However, he said they decided to leave the territories of Azerbaijan instead.
"It was their free choice, and to label it as an 'ethnic cleansing' shows the hypocrisy of Armenia, which has mass-evicted Azerbaijanis from Armenia and occupied Azerbaijani territories, committing genocide and massacres," he said.
Peace treaty
Baku and Yerevan are currently working to sign a peace treaty to end the decadeslong dispute over the enclave, but there are still several stumbling blocks in negotiations.
The issue of opening transport links in the region, including the Zangezur Corridor, a land route connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan through Armenia, has been one contentious issue.
Baku also insists reaching a peace agreement with Armenia is impossible until Armenia removes from its Constitution a problematic reference to the country's 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, which proclaims Armenia's unification with Karabakh as a national goal.
Hajizada repeated Azerbaijan’s call to Armenia to "take adequate measures as soon as possible to eliminate the mentioned claims" from its Constitution.
"The historical peace opportunity in the region must not be missed," he said.
In recent months, Azerbaijani and Armenian forces sporadically exchanged fire along their troubled border in recent months, stoking concerns that an agreement could be further delayed.
Earlier this week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenia and Azerbaijan have "finally managed to agree about 80% of the text of the peace agreement" after nearly two years of talks.
"We have invited Azerbaijan to sign what has been agreed upon in the near future, establish diplomatic relations and continue talks on all matters of mutual significance," he said after talking with his Georgian counterpart, Irakli Kobakhidze.
The Armenian prime minister stressed that unblocking all economic infrastructures and transport links is essential for the region’s stability and economic development.
"I believe that we have a historic opportunity to turn over the page of the conflict in the South Caucasus and establish peace in our region. I am also convinced that this is not only in Armenia and Azerbaijan’s interests but also in Georgia, Türkiye and Iran's, which will benefit from peace," he added.